Bronze casting success

[tobias]

So I decided to cast some of my own bronze. It all started half way through last year when I could not keep up with demand for these hanging pieces. I decided to talk to my local foundry. I went in expecting it to be pricey. I know the mold making process takes time and that equals money.
What I got from them was a huge shock for me. They wanted $750 for the mold. (Cheap I was expecting more like $1000) . Then they tell me it will be $900 per unit after this!!!! I had told them just cut off the sprues and give it to me I can handle the welding and clean up.
Now let's get this straight I clear $1000 after gallery and materials cost on original pieces. They want all of this just to pull a wax and cast it??? I say ah go f#$@ your self. I've got a forge that will get my stainless to a point that it drips. I have cast gold and aluminum lots so screw them. The only thing im not sure on is the price of the bronze alloy. So I order some. 20 pounds delivered to my door $180. Ha I'm gonna be able to cast 7 units from that. That's roughly $25.71 per piece. I make my own mold for about $200. I use paro and beeswax. This takes some messing about as wax is very shrinky. It's all temp control. And I'm about 20 bucks for wax so far. Let's just check this out I've got my mold for $200 ( smooth on silicone) about a $550 savings. I cast one for around $30 including wax. Thats around $870 saved. So far I've saved $1420.
I did use old dental investment but you can't tell me that it's gonna cost $450 for ceramic shell. That number assumes that materials and labour are about the same.
I know that I'm special but this casting stuff is not difficult it's been done since before the Egyptians man!
Any how here it is.
Oh yah Biomorph you want proof it did it? Video coming to my blog soon. Or just come on over to cow town and I will do my best not to splash you with hot stuff. Lol

[tobias]

[Dries]

Congratulations on a successful cast. What are the dimensions of your sculpture, it’s a bit difficult to judge from the picture.

[obseq]

Yeah, mold prices are going to be steep all around, especially in ceramic shell.
In short, the high price for a shell mold can be attributed to a few things:
-Slurry isn't cheap
-Running the slurry mixer/vat 24/7
-Depending on foundry preferences, building up from anywhere 5-12 layers of fine-to-coarse sand+slurry which totals several days of drying between all of the dips.

Anyhow, nice going on doing this yourself!!!

[tobias]

Well Obseq we will see. I've got about 60 kilos of old out dated dental investment that I took when I left my job as a dental tech. It's been sitting around for about 4 yrs now. when I run out of that I will most likely switch to ceramic shell. I will let you know how it works out price wise.

Dries it's 12&3/4 inch from finger tip to finger tip. Solid cast. Next one I will document the whole process.

[racine]

how long is this piece Tobias? am curious about US pricing. here i let people do their own work and charge for the ed and materials only, which reduces- the less they need me -to a studio/mat fee. which is basic compared to the west i think. sometimes i am asked to 'foundry' cast a piece for someone, i throw out a best guessed price [often based on wether i want to do it] but dont really know

[tobias]

Racine I'm in Canada not the US. The length from head to toe is about 16 inchs. The widest part is 1&3/16 of an inch. What would you price this per cast?

[racine]

ah so Canadian dollars.. i guess about that less 20% it would be hollow not solid. but to be honest i rarely touch jobs..too dull. prefer to teach people how to do it themselves and it works out even cheaper...